The business of being an artist
THE OOHS AND AAHS fill the room as the cover comes off a piece of art everyone has been waiting to see.
It’s Mai Lynn, a mermaid, carved from wood by artist Melissa Ryan.
Mai Lynn is a ship’s figurehead, the first of dozens that will be created as part of Guardians of the Sea, a public art project of the Abilities Foundation of Nova Scotia.
Two years ago, a foundation project titled Lobsters in the City created quite a buzz around Halifax as more than 30 fiberglass lobsters in different poses were sponsored by local businesses. The two- metre crustaceans were brightly painted by local artists and displayed on street fronts through the summer. Later they were auctioned at a gala dinner, completing a project that raised $ 200,000 for the foundation to support children and adults with physical disabilities in their pursuit of a better quality of life.
Mai Lynn’s image came to Melissa in a dream a year ago. “ She would haunt me," says Melissa, who was born and educated in Montreal. She lived in Halifax and was a street artist in the city for many years.
“ Most of my visions come early in the morning. I dreamed I was in a home that had massive paintings in gilded frames. The wealthy owner wanted a painting of a mermaid on a shoreline and I kept thinking of an old ship with a mermaid masthead.
My brain zoomed in and I saw details of the face and tail."
Melissa, now working on a major art project at Camp Gagetown in Oromocto, N. B., approached the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax and suggested she create the figurehead on its wharf as a way to attract people to the museum’s exhibits.
Melissa became the museum’s first artist- in- residence. Last summer, she created her mermaid from a 113- kilogram piece of pine.
The chipping and chiselling took three months, starting from the day she used a chainsaw to “ get her to the size I wanted. I guess my ability with the chainsaw is why Mai Lynn’s boobs are so small," Melissa laughs.
The 32- year- old artist has grandiose ideas and a head for marketing that, she says, many artists don’t have. She studied sculpture and ceramics at Concordia University and has sold her wares, including painting in acrylics, wood carving and sculpture in various media, on the street, in galleries, at markets and by word of mouth.
Melissa sips her coffee, her portfolio open in front of her. “ I always wanted to be a professional artist. I did my first sculpture when I was 16, Robo- Jesus, made of metal materials. It was the first time I used a rivet gun and I thought that was ambitious for that age. I started carving wood at 21."
A few years ago, Melissa was laid off from a job at at a furniture shop.
“ I took a business course at Henson College so I could better develop and shape my product and create some income consistency."
Even as an artist, she thought about an artists’ image, with a marketing bent. “ I always wore dresses when I worked on the museum’s wharf. There were a lot of people watching, and I felt working in a dress showed a level of professionalism."
She carefully chooses her words.
“ I’ve discovered you don’t have to be in a gallery. There’s a whole world out there. There’s an urban art community ( in late December, she wrapped up a successful three months working at Spadina and Queen in Toronto) but I don’t see my peers there. I’m out there every day but don’t see many others in my age group."
She says street sales provide an advantage. “ In Toronto, I talk to artists every day, find out what they’re doing, what materials they’re using, about how to make money.
You have to evolve in art. You can’t show the same things over and over, but must push the envelope of your creativity, and feel you have a sense of accomplishment. I guess everyone has a different way of approaching their career as an artist."
She’s settled at Gagetown now, probably until May, painting a show called Canadian Issue, based on military vehicles such as personnel and light armoured vehicles and silhouettes of soldiers with their vehicles.
“ Everyone here has been very co- operative in helping me get the visuals I need. Eventually, I’d like this display to be shown at the Canadian War Museum ( in Ottawa). Past military artists have worked on ships and other craft from earlier wars but there’s not a lot of documentation on vehicles."
After May? Back to Toronto’s streets, then to Halifax to work on another masthead for the museum and the Abilities Foundation during a tall ships event in July.
Melissa laughs. “ My mind is always going and I’ll always create, but when I grow up, I want to engage students on how different artists have approached their careers.
Bright Spot appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Be sure to read Great Kids in The Sunday Herald.
Contact Joel Jacobson via e- mail at jjacobson@ herald.ca, or fax at 426- 1158, or phone 902- 426- 0128.
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